The first of the new trilogy of Mass Effect games will use DICE’s Frostbite graphics engine, as control of the franchise switches to a different BioWare team.

Mass Effect 3: Omega – not the end of the story

The next Mass Effect game will be powered by DICE’s Frostbite graphics engine, as BioWare Montreal studio director Yanick Roy offers the first hints on the new game’s direction.

Previously the Mass Effect games were created by BioWare’s original studio in Edmonton, but the development duties for the next trilogy will move to a different studio in Montreal. The other Canadian team has already helped out on previous games and downloadable content though, and are the ones behind forthcoming download Omega.

The move follows a massive shake-up at BioWare, following the shock departure of founders Ray Muzyka and Greg Zeschuk, as well as Star Wars: The Old Republic creative director Daniel Erickson and writer Alexander Freed.

Although Casey Hudson remains in charge of the series there seems to be clear attempt to start Mass Effect 4 almost from scratch, especially following the controversy over Mass Effect 3’s ending. Little is known about the story except that you will not be controlling Commander Shepard, as you have done in all the previous games.

Roy isn’t specific about what version of the Frostbite engine will be used, but there seems a good chance it will be a next gen version – or at least a variant of whatever is used for next year’s Battlefield 4. According to Roy’s blog it will be, ’enhanced by many of the systems that the Dragon Age III team has already spent a lot of time building’.

Since we don’t know anything more about Dragon Age III than we do Mass Effect 4 that isn’t very helpful, but according to Roy, ‘we are exploring new directions, both on the gameplay and story fronts. You can still expect the pillars the franchise is known for to be fully intact though, including diverse alien races, a huge galaxy to explore, and of course rich, cinematic storytelling.’

He suggests that it’s ‘probably going to be quite a while before you hear from us again’, although Casey Hudson has already been polling fans for their suggestions for the new game – with playable alien races apparently being amongst the most requested.